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lomagu
Joined: 04 Jul 2003
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 Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2003 5:18 am Post subject: my employer want to sue me! |
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i quit my job & ran away. ok, maybe that wasn't the smartest thing to do, but my director was insane. now she says she's going to have me arrested & sued for breaking the contract. i was working without a visa though. also, my contract stated that i would have a single apartment. when i arrived, i had to share an apartment with another teacher. it also stated that i wasn't to be working at outside institutions without immigration approval, but she had me working at 3 outside institutions. wasn't she breaking the contract first? can i actually get arrested & sued?
oh, my contract doesn't say that i have to pay back the plane ticket. do i still have to? |
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Lost Seoul
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2003 5:37 am Post subject: |
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If you were working without a visa I fail to see how she could sue you as you were not officially working for her.
However she will probably try and get you busted by immigration for working at other institutes without a visa.
People working legally in Korea usually find themselves without a legal leg to stand on, without a visa you aint got a prayer. You stand a good chance of being fined and deported.
Your best option is to get out of Korea as quickly as possible! You are fined for every day you overstay your tourist visa. |
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waterbaby
Joined: 01 Feb 2003
Location: Baking Gord a Cheescake pie
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| Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2003 5:37 am Post subject: |
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you were working illegally? no E2 visa? then you weren't working at all  were you? what job? who? must have you confused with someone else... 
Of course your boss can't sue you unless she wants to get herself into all sorts of problems with the law herself. So my guess is that she's trying to bluff you into giving her money. Forget it.
If you want reassurance, send an email to EFL-Law, a not for profit legal entity in Korea well versed in dealing with English teachers in Korea. Email them at [email protected] Check out their website too - lots of good info. They don't charge and they are very prompt.
Hope everything works out for you
Cheers,
waterbaby
Last edited by waterbaby on Thu Jul 24, 2003 4:23 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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gang ah jee
Joined: 14 Jan 2003
Location: city of paper
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| Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2003 6:39 am Post subject: |
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I've been threatened with the whole 'gonna sue you' thing and this is what my lawyer said:
Once a civil case is filed you have to be notified. If there is no address where you can be reached (eg. you are out of korea) then a notification will be posted on the bulletin board of the courts. If you do not respond within 3 months (?) the case will be tried without you. If the ruling is against you and you show up again you can either pay or appeal it on the grounds that you were not present for the case and have it re-tried.
If you do stick around, a case takes about 3 months to get to court.
The airfare: the only way they can recover that is by suing you.
As this is a civil matter you cannot be arrested or have your freedom of movement impeded in any way.
Immigration is who you have to watch out for - I'd say it's unlikely that you'll face problems for already having worked illegally (going by the book there would have to be PROOF which would implicate the people she was farming you out to). You might find obstacles in getting an E-2 should you want to, however.
| lost seoul wrote: |
| People working legally in Korea usually find themselves without a legal leg to stand on, without a visa you aint got a prayer. You stand a good chance of being fined and deported. |
assuming you meant 'illegally'. In my experience legal workers don't exactly have a lot of legs to stand on either. |
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canuckistan
Mod Team
Joined: 17 Jun 2003
Location: Training future GS competitors.....
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| Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2003 7:29 am Post subject: |
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| Excuse to immigration number 478: You could always say you ran away precisely because your boss didn't do the proper paperwork for an E-2 and was farming you out. |
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panthermodern
Joined: 08 Feb 2003
Location: Taxronto
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| Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2003 7:48 am Post subject: |
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| my employer want to sue me! |
It should read "My (capital M) employer wants (add "s" to want) to sue me!
Just kidding, don't sweat it, BUT, get any and all unnecessary money out of the bank, wire it or better yet US$ T.C. and plan to leave. |
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BTM
Joined: 20 Jan 2003
Location: Back in the saddle.
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| Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2003 5:32 pm Post subject: |
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| gang ah jee wrote: |
| lost seoul wrote: |
| People working legally in Korea usually find themselves without a legal leg to stand on, without a visa you aint got a prayer. You stand a good chance of being fined and deported. |
assuming you meant 'illegally'. In my experience legal workers don't exactly have a lot of legs to stand on either. |
I think lost seoul meant that we're generally screwed even if we're legal, and doubly screwed, blued and tattooed if we're not. No mistake there.
On-topic a bit more, I wouldn't worry about the threat to sue. It's one of those empty, blustering threats that we encounter in extremis here sometimes, to which many Koreans don't yet seem to understand we waeguk-in don't respond as well (ie we don't fall into line immediately) as our hanguk-in brethren.
Your only issue, as others have indicated, might be with immigration. There are ways to get around that, if necessary. |
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rapier
Joined: 16 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2003 10:02 pm Post subject: |
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| "running away" should usually co-incide with a flight the following morning. Not a pleasant holiday in Gimchiland. Avoid complications- get out quickly and forget about it all. why hang around???? |
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Mankind
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2003 8:33 am Post subject: |
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| Of course your boss can't sue you unless she wants to get herself into all sorts of problems with the law herself. |
This is not accurate. There are 3 very seperate groups you deal with here. Immigration (like other already, the biggest problem for you). The labour board, who also represents employers. Any breach of a contract (doesn't matter who started it) can be settled here. They have nothing to do with immigration (the legality of your work does not matter)and settle matters, that involve pay, bonuses, personal injury do to assult or a dangerous work place. Your housing isn't right? Not their job. The third way to take action is with the small claims courts (up to 20 million). She can sue you there for loses and damages and face no legal problems herself. All it takes is a little paper work. She probably won't, but it is possible to do.
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Carldaddy
Joined: 05 Aug 2003
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2003 9:32 pm Post subject: Pretty Simple |
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Don't work illegally. Once you do that you're "beeped".
Other than that I like the response that says, "Job, what job?", "Who, dunno?", "Money, what money?"
Anyway. This suing business is BS. Nobody wants to sue anybody. People see lawsuits on TV and think it's easy. In truth it's the worst way to get what you want. Expensive, time consuming and agumentative at best. You do have the same legal rights as any Korean employee! Don't feel so "under the thumb" as they will want to make you feel, but don't invite retribution either. Be an adult. Say you're sorry. Work it out if you want to work, legally, again. Or really run away and don't look back. |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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| Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2003 4:46 am Post subject: Re: Pretty Simple |
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| Carldaddy wrote: |
| You do have the same legal rights as any Korean employee! . |
No. We can not vote. They can. We can not leave a job without having to leave the country again (either on a visa run or back home). They can. They don't need a visa to work. We do. |
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BTM
Joined: 20 Jan 2003
Location: Back in the saddle.
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| Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2003 8:17 pm Post subject: Re: Pretty Simple |
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| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
| Carldaddy wrote: |
| You do have the same legal rights as any Korean employee! |
No. We can not vote. They can. We can not leave a job without having to leave the country again (either on a visa run or back home). They can. They don't need a visa to work. We do. |
It would appear that you're not that clear on the concept of 'rights,' here. Not only that but you're confusing some of the privileges of citizenship (which come with their concomittant duties, of course) with mere labour laws.
No soup for you! |
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Carldaddy
Joined: 05 Aug 2003
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2003 6:55 am Post subject: Yup |
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Thanks Myth
Couldn'tasaiditbettermyself! |
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